As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
The transmission of power to an information handling system is important especially with respect to portable devices such as laptop computers and personal digital assistants (PDA) that are designed to operate on both battery power and power supplied by a wall outlet. As portable devices have become more advanced and able to perform more functions, the portable devices require more power to operate. Because batteries only last for a finite time before requiring a new charge, many portable devices may also be able to plug into a wall outlet and operate on AC power. But since portable devices primarily operate on battery power (DC power), an AC adapter is required when powering a portable device from a wall outlet to convert the AC power to DC power. Generally, a portable device includes a power cord where one end of the power cord includes a wall plug that plugs into the wall outlet and the other end of the power cord includes a connector plug that plugs into a socket on the AC adapter where the socket and connector plug together are an AC adapter connector assembly for the transmission of power. A separate electrical cable runs from the AC adapter to the portable device to provide DC power to the portable device.
Current AC connector assemblies are designed to industry standards depending on whether the AC connector assembly supports two wire power cords or three wire power cords. Two wire power cords do not have a ground wire, have a wall plug with two prongs, and have a two contact AC connector assembly known as a “C7” connector. Three wire power cords do have a ground wire, typically have a wall plug with three prongs, and have a three contact AC connector assembly known as a “C5” connector. For safety reasons, AC adapters and AC connector assemblies are designed to operate only with either a two wire power cord or a three wire power cord and therefore have either a C5 connector assembly or a C7 connector assembly. For instance, an AC adapter having a C5 connector assembly cannot operate with a two wire power cord having a C7 connector plug and an AC adapter having a C7 connector assembly cannot operate with a three wire power cord having a C5 connector plug.
The incompatibility of the different standard AC connector assemblies creates problems when attempting to sell a common AC adapter world-wide because of different regional electrical standards. For example, the United States operates on 110 volts and has both two prong and three prong wall outlets. Europe operates on 220 volts and the higher voltage requires a ground wire and a ground prong so all wall outlets in Europe are three prong. Wall outlets in Japan typically have two prongs and therefore are not compatible with wall plugs having three prongs. In order for one AC adapter to satisfy all users world-wide, a three wire power cord, three prong wall outlet, and a C5 connector assembly must be used. But modifications must be made so that the AC adapter functions correctly and safely in the different regions and still satisfy all safety regulations such as those promulgated by the Underwriters Laboratory.
In the United States where three prong wall plugs are not required, having an AC adapter with a three wire power cord and three prong wall plug results in a bulkier than necessary wall plug and can create problems in older homes or businesses that have not been updated to have three prong wall outlets. In Japan, significant modification of the three wire power cord is required because Japan has only two prong wall outlets. The three wire power cord is modified to have a two prong wall plug where the ground wire terminates in a pigtail instead of terminating at the third prong on the wall plug. The user is supposed to fasten the pigtail underneath the screw attaching the outlet cover to the wall outlet to provide a ground. But most users never bother to attach the pigtail to the screw so that the attached device is not properly grounded which may cause electrical problems. In addition, the pigtail may accidentally hit the wall plug or wall outlet and cause a short in the AC adapter which creates an additional safety problem.
In addition, the C5 connector assembly is a bulky design that dictates the size of the AC adapter. An AC adapter must be large enough to accommodate the C5 connector assembly. The C5 connector has three contacts—line or hot, return or neutral, and ground. The hot and neutral contacts are side-by-side with the ground contact located above the hot and neutral contacts. This arrangement of the contacts requires that the AC adapter be a certain thickness in order to accommodate the C5 connector assembly. But AC adapters are often used with portable devices where smaller is better for portability reasons and the C5 connector assembly limits how small AC adapters can be designed because the AC adapter must be thick enough to accommodate the C5 connector assembly.